The present invention relates to the field of carrying or toting devices, and more particularly to a tool belt attachment that is capable of carrying two tools independently, such as a cordless drill and a pneumatic nail gun. The double tool tote device of the present invention is an improvement of the inventor""s xe2x80x9cTool Belt Tool Totexe2x80x9d described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,451 issued and U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,449, issued May 16, 2000. The inventive double tool tote device comprises a C-shaped clip, a swivel element and two hook members. In use, a tool depending from each hook may freely swivel to maintain its center of gravity so that the tool will remain securely attached to the tool tote while remaining easily accessible to the user.
Tool belts of various designs have been described in the prior art in order to carry and retain one or more desired tools while allowing the user to keep his hands free. The conventional tool belts are provided with leather or cloth loops which depend from the belt and which serve as tool retainers. Although useful to some extent, such tool belts present inherent deficiencies which limit their usefulness. For example because cloth is not necessarily a rigid structure, cloth loops may close when not in use, making it difficult for the user to replace the tool into the loop with one hand. More over, a loop may tightly constrict about the tool handle as the tool settles into position, thereby making it difficult to remove the tool when needed. Similar problems arise with the use of the more rigid leather loops. A more significant problem with the common tool belt is that the tool or tools being retained therein remain in a fairly static position with respect to the retaining loops. In other words, the tool fails to swivel as the user moves about to maintain its center of gravity. This limitation can create a dangerous situation as the user wearing a tool belt carrying multiple tools moves about due to the fact that one or more of the tools may slip out of its loop, for example when the user is climbing, thereby endangering personnel and materials located below. Moreover, conventional tool belts are designed to hold shafted objects, such as hammers, screwdrivers and the like, and are ill-suited for holding and retaining non-shafted tools, such as a power drill. When a user requires both a non-shafted tool and another tool, he often must hand carry the non-shafted tool, which can present problems when the user must climb a ladder or needs the use of both his hands. In addition, conventional tool belts are not designed for carrying heavier tools, such as a cordless drill, screw guns, and/or pneumatic and gas driven nail guns.
Despite the teachings of the prior art, a need still exists for a tool toting device which may be attached to a belt or tool-belt that facilitates carrying of at least one non-shafted tool, such as a power drill, and at least one other tool in a safe and convenient manner which frees the user""s hands. Such a device should be sufficiently rigid so that the user can store both types of tools onto it with one hand and retrieve each tool with the use of one hand. Such a device also should permit swiveling of the carried tools such that each tool""s center of gravity may not be shifted to a dangerous position, but rather maintains the tool within the safe control of the user even while climbing about in a work space.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a double tool tote device in which the aforementioned problems can be overcome comprising a clip affixed to a belt from which depends two independently swivelable hooks each capable of retaining a desired tool.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a double tool tote device which is capable of retaining two tools, each of which can be removed independently with one hand.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a double tool tote device which permits the user to adjust the position of each retained tool to a position which is comfortable and easily accessible from both the left-hand and right-hand side of the workman.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a double tool tote device which is capable of carrying a non-shafted tool, such as a power tool.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a double tool tote device which is economical to manufacture, durable in construction and effective in operation.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following specification or may be learned by practice of the invention. To the accomplishment of the above-related objects, this invention may be embodied in the forms illustrated in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings merely are illustrative, and that changes may be made in the specific construction illustrated and described within the scope of the appended claims.